India, China join hands at trilateral meet

Indian manufacturers have for the first time joined hands with Chinese businessmen to win a bigger foothold in the growing agrochemical market of Russia and other former Soviet states.

The International Crop Science Conference and Exhibition, ICSC-2011, held in Moscow last week also became the first trilateral business initiative on Russian soil, The Hindu reports. The event was organised by the Pesticides Manufacturers & Formulators Association of India (PMFAI) with the cooperation of CHEMEXCIL of India and the China Crop Protection Industry Association (CCPIA), and the support of the Russian Union of Crop Protection & Manufacturers and the Russian Grain Union. The conference brought together 68 Indian and 19 Chinese companies involved in the production of plant protection substances.

The Indian pesticides industry is the second largest in Asia, after China, and the third largest in the world, while Russia is the largest and fastest growing consumer in the $1.2-billion market of the former Soviet Union.

The fact that Indian organisers invited Chinese competitors to an export-oriented meet “in one sense reflected the confidence of Indian pesticides and chemicals manufacturers that they had quality products to offer at competitive prices,” said Indian Ambassador to Russia Ajai Malhotra who inaugurated ICSC-2011.

Ambassador Malhotra felt that Indian agrochemical exports, which amounted to nearly $40 million, with concerted effort could be increased to $200 million over the next few years. He urged Indian producers to pursue aggressively the agrochemicals registration process in Russia which some participants complained was rather cumbersome, , The Hindu reports.